Gompeicoin
Gompeicoin is a cryptocurrency, a form of electronic cash. It is a decentralized digital currency built around convenient campus usage and can be sent from user to user on the peer-to-peer goatchain network with little to no need for intermediaries. Gompeicoin has been the official cryptocurrency at WPI for over 7 years. Transaction verification is completed through cryptography and recorded in a privately distributed ledger that allows a select group working through campus security to ensure transactional integrity and anonymity. Since the system is privatized there is no way for people to be compensated for upkeeping the ledger like in traditional cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Instead the coin is tied directly to USD and can only be exchanged for said amount. This ensures that value doesn't change too much for daily usage. Gompeicoin has been seen as a somewhat controversial technology on campus due to it's high power usage, illegal transaction uses, and private verification system. Such controversy even spanned a walkout and boycott of Gompeicoin in B term of 2011. It was suggested that the walkout was originally sponsored by the coin and currency club on campus but due to the action not gaining a lot of traction there was little need to investigate further. Little is known of the original coins founders. The coin was pushed by faculty to reduce muggings on campus by forcing students not to carry as much cash on them and a student origin for the coin was alluded to in the, now lost, announcement email. It is likely that the founder didn't want his identity revealed because he would be bared from using the system due to their insider knowledge. History Gompeicoin, marketed as Gom-pay, saw the light of day in February of 2010. Rumors at the time suggested that the coin was part of an MQP project, this cannot be confirmed however as the creator believed the concept would introduce a too significant divide in the WPI community for a name to be assigned to the project. May 2006 - First discussion by faculty The idea of the currency was first put on paper during an end of year faculty meeting adding that having a standardized non-cash system for purchasing campus goods would increase the convenience and security for students. Since the idea only came up for discussion during the last meetings that year, it was likely completely forgotten about. November 2009 '''- Full Lab rental for possible prototype Extremely long after-hours lab registrations in Salisbury for "campus financial simulation work" appeared. While it is possible that this activity had no correlation to Gompeicoin, it is believed this work was part of the early node setup process. '''February 2010 - Gompeicoin goes live. The system goes live to little fanfare following the staff email. With the first transactions slowly coming in for mostly small snacks and alike, due to the few early adopters. 'August of 2012 '- Full adoption DAKA and The Goat's Head are the final campus establishments not to take the coin and finally adopt it after the start of the school year. Fully legitimizing the coin in the eyes of most of students and marking the downward trend of it's turbulent origins on campus. Controversy on Campus Lots of clubs and student organizations have come out against the coin for the lack of transparency the system operated under. With a large portion of the regulation and backend completely behind closed doors many were highly doubtful of the legitimacy of the coin and its impact on student life. These clubs included but weren't limited to: * Coins and Currency ** Contributed to the organization of the 2011 Gompeicoin walkout which led to the week-long boycott. While the walkout/boycott was a noisy effort, it proved fruitless in the end due to how ingrained the currency had already become in the student population. ** Later the club attempted to publish a manifesto in The Daily Herd calling out organizations that were moving towards only using the coin, but the paper refused to publish it on the grounds that "it felt like a witch hunt". * Economics Student Association ** ESA made noise about their doubts on the grounds for the initial adoption being motivated by campus crimes to faculty as noted by their club minutes, but didn't receive word back. * Dining Services ** DAKA (now Pulse on Dining) was one of the last adopters of the currency taking till the start of 1st semester of 2012 before adding support. The majority of students use the campus meal plan which gives meal swipes to students making direct payment a less used option in the first place. All their eventual adoption added to the coin's usability was legitimacy. * Financial Math Club ** Published an opinion piece in the Daily Herd suggesting that the technology and security behind the system should be more available to students while making the cash vs Gompeicoin decision. * System Dynamics Club ** Emailed school faculty about the technical information for a project comparing Gompeicoin to the much shorter lived Goatbucks.